CS 112 Syllabus - Fall 2019

Our schedule can be found here.

1. An ability to use procedural programming language concepts including expressions, simple data types, boolean logic, decision statements, input/output, loop constructs, functions, and exceptions.
2. An ability to combine these procedural programming techniques to solve problems of varying degrees of difficulty.
3. An ability to refine computer programs through debugging and testing to ensure proper operation.
4. An ability to read, understand, and evaluate a program specification in order to independently implement the desired behavior.
5. An ability to understand issues and ethics related to obtaining and using code from unknown, unreliable, or unethical sources, as a precursor to best professional practices.

Additionally, CS 112 satisfies the "Information Technology and Computing" Mason Core requirements, which fosters these Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will understand the principles of information storage, exchange, security, and privacy and be aware of related ethical issues.
2. Students will become critical consumers of digital information; they will be capable of selecting and evaluating appropriate, relevant, and trustworthy sources of information.
3. Students can use appropriate information and computing technologies to organize and analyze information and use it to guide decision-making.
4. Students will be able to choose and apply appropriate algorithmic methods to solve a problem.

C or better in MATH 104, 105, or 113, or sufficient scores on the math placement test.

• Required - Zyante online text.
  1. Sign up at zybooks.com.
  2. Enter this zyBook code (all sections): GMUCS112SnyderFall2019
  3. Subscribe (indicate your lecture section when prompted)

• sign up: http://piazza.com/gmu/fall2019/cs112
• All correspondence will go through Piazza. You can send private messages to the instructors (professors, GTAs, UTAs all) as well as post public questions visible to all students, collaborate on responses, and tag everything by topic.
  • Unless you have a confidential matter to discuss directly with an individual professor, please do not email us directly, use a private piazza post or visit in person. Project help questions sent via email are extremely low priority, as they were sent to the wrong place.
• Course discussions will take place on Piazza. Go sign up now so you don't miss announcements.
• Documents such as TA contacts, schedules, and lecture slides will be on piazza only (not blackboard).

• Grades will be posted to Blackboard: https://mymason.gmu.edu
• All assignments will be submitted (per published deadlines) via Blackboard.

• We will use an online tool, Pytania, to interactively answer questions in class. That means you'll need to bring a wifi-enabled device - a laptop, phone, tablet - so you can log in, answer questions, and get credit for the day. You need to be on the campus wifi in order to access the site.
  • you earn class participation credit for the fraction of questions answered, right or wrong.
  • you earn extra credit for correct answers. (Great way to make up for missed questions!)
  • There will be a small allotment of questions you can miss and still get full credit, so if you miss an individual question here or there, it's okay - just get some correct-answer extra credit and you're back on track!
• Note that attempting to answer questions to any online class participation system from home is not permitted. That would be a violation of the honor code, and we would recommend failure in the course as with any other honor code violation.

• Quite Optional - The Practice of Computing Using Python, William Punch and Richard Enbody. This is for students who want extra reading resources. You might be able to view a copy for free at Fenwick Library. It is the textbook we used to require before adopting the ZyBook.

Grades will be assessed on the following scale:

• Given the percentages above and the allowed dropped lowest grades, you should always be able to calculate your semester grade at any point in the semester.
• There will be no make-up or extra-credit assignments at the end of the semester; your grade should be a measure of your semester-long progress.
• note that generally, project/homework scores are higher, and test scores lower, than many students' overall semester score.
• here is an unofficial grade calculator that you can use to track your progress and run "what if?" scenarios:
  • http://cs.gmu.edu/~marks/112/cs112_grade_calculator.xlsx

Each programming assignment is an individual effort; no collaboration allowed on projects.

Programming projects will be a primary focus of your experience, progress, and grade - each one should take multiple sessions of coding, with questions asked of the course instructors in person or online in between those sessions. This is the practice you need to learn, master, and internalize various concepts of the course.

• On weeks when no project is due there will be smaller exercises to complete. You may work in groups (or alone, it is your choice). You will not receive extra credit for working alone.
• Your lowest group homework grade will be dropped and the others averaged together evenly.
• Each student in a group must submit individually before the deadline for credit. No credit will be awarded for submissions by other students (even if they put your name on it).

• All lab assessment grades will be averaged together evenly after the drops.
• Lab quizzes and tasks require attendance at your designated lab time to get the credit.
• Any missed lab assessment is simply missed, regardless of the reason why (travel, illness, work, traffic, receiving a major award, getting married, saving the universe, etc.). Two lowest lab grades will be dropped to cover the very rare cases of understandable missed labs.
• If you choose to miss some early on, and later on have to miss for some understandable reason, that is too bad. Try to save the drops so you can actually throw out a bad grade, and not just hide a lazy zero. Pretending you don't have them is your best approach.

• Zyante readings are graded based on the completion percentage of activities before the designated deadline of each chapter.
• See the schedule page on Piazza for reading assignment due date.
• Make sure you're logged in to get credit for reading completion.
• Optional subsections are not considered for Zyante grading.

• Exams are closed book/notes unless specified otherwise by instructor. They will be entirely paper and pencil - no computers.
• All students must have their GMU identification available on testing days.
• The final exam is cumulative. If you perform better on the final exam than your midterm exam, we will replace the midterm grade with the final grade.
• If you know in advance that you are unable to make an exam for a valid and unavoidable reason (such as a scheduled surgery, naturalization ceremony, court date, etc.), you must notify the professor at least one week before the scheduled exam date to make arrangements for a make-up, and bring documentation with you when you take the make-up.
• If you miss an exam due to a university-accepted excused absence (such as an illness or car accident the day and time of the exam), you must notify your professor within 24 hours of your absence to make arrangements for a makeup, and bring approved documentation with you when you take the make-up exam. Failure to follow either of these policies will result in a zero.
• the final will not be given early. You are starting the course with knowledge of the schedule. Plan on being in Fairfax for the entire exam period, as weather can cause unexpected delays in the examination schedule.
• Per departmental policy, you must pass a significant exam threshold to receive a passing grade in this class, regardless of your performance on other assignments. Failing the final exam (<60.0%), will result in a failing grade (F) for the entire course unless you have achieved an average exam score >=65%. This average score is calculated as a weighted average of your exam scores (((10*LabQuizzes) + (13*Midterm) + (25*Final))/48). Note that midterm grades will not be "replaced" with the final grade for this calculation. In short, in 99/100 cases, you must pass the final exam to pass the course.

• If you feel points have been incorrectly deducted, contact the grader. For all homework, projects, and lab work, that is your GTA. For the midterm and final exam, that is your professor.
• If you have not initiated contact within a week of a grade being posted to BlackBoard, you accept the grade by default. We cannot entertain a swarm of contested grades at the eleventh hour to try to maximize end-of-semester grades. Keep up with your grades throughout the semester.
• We strive to grade each student's work fairly and uniformly, often through specific test cases, automated as part of the grading process. All GTAs coordinate together with a shared scoring breakdown and regularly communicate with each other before, during, and after the grading process to keep it fair and consistent.

• For students seeking help with programming assignments during office hours, students must identify the line number, through debug print statements, where they believe an error to be before seeing the TA or instructor. This implies that you must have syntax errors or at least one test case that fails, to bring to office hours before the TAs or instructor can help you.
• For more general programming assignment questions, students must bring their own pseudocode to office hours before the TA or professor can help you.
• Under no circumstances will the professor or GTA reveal more than three lines of code at a time during office hours. Students must make significant, individual effort on all projects before coming to see a GTA/professor. Waiting until the last minute, in the expectations that the entire project will be explained in one office hours session, is not feasible.
• Office hours are often crowded - do not rely on them for last minute help, as we cannot guarantee that we will be able to spend significant time with every student.
• If you have any questions about what you are/aren't permitted to do on a project/lab and you and the TA cannot find a the answer written somewhere, you should ask your professor. "So-and-so said" will not be an accepted as a reason for grade re-evaluations (unless "so-and-so" is your professor).

• Students are encouraged to use the Piazza discussion board to ask and answer questions about assignments, labs, course material, etc.
• No sharing answers or code solutions to assignments on the discussion board. See Honor code section below for more details.
• Students can post questions and code privately, although the instructor reserves the right to make any post public, so that other students can see the responses.
• For students wishing to post their code privately to Piazza, the same rules apply as when coming to office hours; if you have code written, you must produce at least one failing test case where you have identified what line number is giving you problems.
• UTAs will be assigned to moderate the student discussion, help review student answers, answer private questions, and address questions which have not received a student answer. Therefore, responses to questions can be expected within 24 hours, though often times much sooner.
• Statements made on the discussion boards, even by TAs and especially by other students, should NOT be considered the definitive word on the subject unless it is verified by your professor (in the assignment description, in class, posted on Piazza, etc.). The UTAs can flag professors if/when clarifications are needed.
• If you have any questions about what you are/aren't permitted to do on a project/exam and you/others cannot find a the answer written somewhere, you should ask your professor. "So-and-so said" will not be an accepted as a reason for grade re-evaluations (unless "so-and-so" is your professor).